Documentary to feature killer GP

RELATIVES of Harold Shipman’s victims are among those set to feature in a documentary about the serial killer. The one-hour TV programme, set to be screened in autumn, will include interviews with the relatives as well as colleagues of GP Linda Reynolds who risked her career to blow the whistle on the serial killer.

RELATIVES of Harold Shipman’s victims are among those set to feature in a documentary about the serial killer.

The one-hour TV programme, set to be screened in autumn, will include interviews with the relatives as well as colleagues of GP Linda Reynolds who risked her career to blow the whistle on the serial killer.

The documentary is part of a series on Britain’s worst crimes and will include a reconstruction of the moment Shipman handed himself in to police, seconds after being snapped by Chris Gleave, a photographer with our sister paper the Manchester Evening News.

Chris was on hand to get the snap after being tipped-off by then-MEN reporter Mikaela Sitford who broke the story.

He said: “You could say I was the last person to see him as a free man. I was outside Ashton police station when he arrived with his brief.

“Mikaela had called and asked me to get there as quickly as I could. I was there when he pulled up in the car.

“Before they went inside, Shipman and a woman lawyer walked for 10 to 15 minutes along the streets behind the station. I imagine they were talking about what he was going to say to the police. I was in the car with a long lens and I followed them for a while.

“Eventually he saw me, came towards me and threw his arms out, saying: ‘Is that what you want?’ I said: ‘Would you mind walking back a bit, I’m on a long lens’. He just glared at me and then went in to give himself up.

“At the time it was just another job, but with hindsight it was quite a momentous thing.

“I’m not worried about acting for the reconstruction, I’ll just be doing what I do every day, only this time, someone will be filming me.”

The programme will be screened on the Crime and Investigation Network which is on Sky 531 or Virgin 237.

The series is being produced by Manchester-based Title Role Productions.